The armed group barricaded itself inside of the Right Sector's
local headquarters, from where it was shooting and throwing flash
grenades and Molotov cocktails at Kharkov anti-Maidan activists,
who gathered outside.

"When pro-Russian activists tried to enter the building from
the windows of the second floor Molotov cocktails were thrown
into them and the shooting started," said the Interior
ministry in a Saturday statement.

Besides the two people killed, at least four more were wounded in
the shooting, authorities said. The armed group also took hostage
three men – two activists and one policeman – who reportedly went
inside to negotiate their surrender. Later, the hostages were
released in a police operation.

Police deployed at the scene cordoned off the area and in the
early hours of Saturday stormed the building. Around 30 gunmen
were detained as a result.

“We have started to identify these people, as they don’t have
passports with them,” Anatoly Dmitriev, the head of the
Kharkov region police told Itar-Tass. “We’ll lift
fingerprints from weapons, which are left inside the
building.”

The incident reportedly began after a Kharkov self-defence group
patrolling the city square noticed a suspicious Volkswagen van
and tried to stop it. It was the same van involved in a shooting
back on March 8, when one of the anti-Maidan activists was
wounded.

When the driver refused to stop, LifeNews reports, activists
chased the van to the building on Rymarska Street, where the
office of Right Sector is located.

Numerous videos of the incident captured by the activists have
been uploaded on YouTube.

Activist Sergey Yudaev who was live streaming the incident told
RT that local authorities were apparently covering up the actions
of Right Sector and trying to hide the fact that the group has a
hideout with a cache of weapons in that building. Yudaev also
confirmed the incident on March 8, when a group in that exact van
attacked several peaceful activists who were returning from an
anti-Maidan rally.

He added that it took activists almost 40 minutes to make the
police respond to the call, since the new police chief appointed
by the Kiev “junta” is covering up all crimes carried
out by the Right Sector in Kharkov.

The local “junta controlled” media, Yudaev warned, have
already twisted the story and tried to present it as an attack by
Oplot movement on an office of some "political
organization" that has nothing to do with Right Sector. But
the group inside the building is anything but peaceful, Yudaev
said, as videos clearly show Molotov cocktails being thrown at
people standing outside.

On Thursday, bloody clashes in the city of Donetsk between rival rallies
ended with a murder and multiple wounded. This proves those in
power in Kiev do not control the situation in Ukraine, Russia’s
Foreign Ministry stated, stressing Moscow reserves right to
protect compatriots.